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PAGE 2
THE
MEREVITH
THE TWIG
MARCH 2^ 1974
TWIG
COLLEG-E
Abbott lecture good
^ turnout and the quality of questions at the
Sidney Abbott lecture was excellent. The audience reacted to a
COTtroyersial and sensitive subject with maturity and some
mou^t-provokmg queries. Anyone who had reservations about
Ms. Abbott s appearance on campus should be placated by the
event Itself, which proceeded smoothly. (Except that it was
almost unbearably warm in Jones auditorium that night- it
w^ld be nice if someday we could have an event in Jones when
all the facilities therein function properly.) Thanks go the the
SGA for making the Monday night event possible, after much
effort and as Shakespeare has it “much ado about nothing.”
Staff Editorial
New system
needs chance
The TWIG wants the Repstrar’s Office to know that its ef
forts to find a new way of registration are much appreciated. We
don’t know if the new, non-Saturday r^istration is going to work
or how many snafus the registrar’s office will encounter but it is
definitely encouraging to see that someone was listening to all the
clamor for a new system. One hopes that neither faculty nor
students will complain until the new method has been given a
chance; we complained so long about Saturday registration that
it is only fair to give this new method time to work.
E.E.H.
Questionnaire
counted
In response to a letter to the editor in this issue, I want to
explain what became of the convocation questionnaire which was
run in the TWIG. After receiving approximately 135 responses
from the student body, I tallied the results and reported them to
the ad hoc convocation committee. This committee finished its
work several Mondays ago when it passed a resolution which was
sent to President Weems for consideration and approval. I refer
those who missed the story to the article on the committee’s
resolution in last week’s TWIG. It was interesting to read the
letter to the editor in which the student’s suggestions for im
provement of convocation vei^ nearly paralleled many of the
proposals in the committee’s resolution. Thanks for writing.
E.E.H.
Josey letter corrected
In last week’s issue of the TWIG, there was an omission in the
letter to the editor from Mary Bland Josey. Her letter contained
an enclosed copy of a news article from a March 1972 News and
Observer which reported that grade averages have risen at
colleges across the country. Miss Josey noted that the newspaper
carri^ the story with a large banner headline which indicated the
s^rise the news media apparently expected from the public.
Since the TWIG could not reprint the News and Observer article
due to lack of space, we omitted the reference to the enclosed
article. Unfortunately, the omission deleted the only reference in
the letter to the fact that grades have indeed risen at colleges
across the country, a fact which Miss Josey quite rightly felt was
of major importance. I hope that this somewhat clarifies her
excellent letter and the TWIG apologizes to Miss J osey for the
omission. Also, I would like to take this opportunity to note that if
all members of the Meredith community could execute their
duties and communicate as well as Miss Josey, this school could
boast of the best in organization and efficiency.
E.E.H.
Letters to the editor
Dear Editor;
In two recent editorials
you made some oservations
about data on applications for
admission and their im
plications for the academic
life of the College. I think you
and your readers would want
to have these observations
placed into the context of
national trends, the current
Meredith scene, and the
purpose of the institution.
In regard to the effect that
increased selectivity in ad
missions would have on the
academic life of the campus,
such selectivity would
assuredly add a new
dimension to our intellectual
life. As for the prospect of
stiffer competition in college
admissions, however, we
must be realistic.
Nationawide we are in an era
of a dimishing percentage of
high school graduates en
tering college. Furthermore,
both the percentage and the
number of college-bound
students who choose private
colleges are declining. Around
1980 - a short six years from
now - the actual number of
high school graduates across
the country will begin to
diminish. Within this context,
the admissions staff sees no
great hope of Meredith’s
freshman applicant pool
significantly increasing; and
we shall likely be fortunate
each year to be at “591 ap
plications and holding.”
Even though we see no
real prospect of increasing
our freshman applicant pool
and therefore decreasing
significantly the percentage of
applicants who are accepted,
we want to point out that the
quality of entrance creden
tials of an entering class
cannot automatically be
deduced from the percentage
of acceptance. It is in
structive, for example, to
compare the application,
acceptance, and enrollment
data of the freshman class
that entered in 1963 - a year in
which dormitory spaces at-
Meredith and nearly all
colleges were at a premium -
with comparable figures for
the 1973 freshman class.
Fall Enrollment
Dormitory 737
833
Total
1117
1274
Type Data 1963 1973
Freshman Applications
Applications 526 591
Acceptances 323 497
Percent of Acceptances
61 84
Enrolled 238 330
Freshman Class Credentials
1st Qtr. of
high school class 83 81
‘63 Average Total SAT
vs.‘73Avg.SAT -I-19 -19
(i.e., 19 points less in 1973)
Ayg. Total SAT in comparison
with national average
-1-31 -1-66
(i.e., 34 point increase in 1973
over national average)
As the above data in
dicates, there is no material
difference in the quality of the
entrance credentials of
today’s entering freshmen,
despite our current ac
ceptance rate of 84 percent,
and that of ten years ago when
the acceptance rate was 61
percent. We attribute this fact
to the belief that today there is
considerably more pre
selection among our ap
plicants. School counselors
are more aware of the usual
credentials expected of
students enrolling and so
advise college-bound
students. Our own staff
likewise does not encourage
applications from students
likely to be rejected. To do so
would alien to our un
derstanding of Meredith’s
concern for and our own
personal unterest in the
student and her feelings.
Quite apart from the
demographic information
already cited, in thinking of
the degree of selectivity in
admissions appropriate for
Meredith College, we must all
remember the purpose and
history of Meredith. It seems
to me that our founding
fathers did not envision
Meredith as serving just the
intellectual “cream of the
crop.” An institution of
“higher order,” yes! But as I
read Dr. Mary Lynch John
son’s A History of Meredith
College, I get the vivid im
pression that we I were in
tended to be an institution of
excellence for good-to-above-
average students as well as
for superior students. The 1969
Self Study and Planning
Report contains a section on
“The Desired Characteristics
of the Student Body” as in
terpreted within the context of
the College’s history and
purpose. I commend the
reading of that section of the
report, copies of which are in
the Carlyle Campbell Library,
to all students and to all
persons who have joined the
faculty within the last six
years.
In offering this broader
perspective for ‘The Twig’s
observations about selectivity
in admissions, I in no way
disagree with its basic con
cern that Meredith always
enroll well-qualified students.
It is indeed important that the
College continue to enroll only
those students adequately
prepared for her academic
program. To do otherwise is
not in the best interests of any
student or the college.
Mary Bland Josey
Director of Admissions
Dear Editor.
Required convocation, in
my opinion, is the most
ridiculous aspect of life at
Meredith. As the handbook
states on page 17: “As an
integral part of community
life, convocation seeks to offer
a forum of ideas, presented in
and through lectures, con
certs, addresses, films and
dramatic productions, to
stimulate and add to the
community’s spiritual, in
tellectual, cultural, and social
disloque.
The only thing con
vocation has meant to me has
been an extra hour of sleep on
Monday morning. Very few of
the programs are enlightening
enough to keep me awake.
Maybe the programs are
interesting to some, but why
should those who have other
things to do with their time be
forced to sit through a
program of little value to
them?
The manner in which the
situation is handled has much
to be desired. Having
“guards” at the doors taking
numbers makes a student fee!
as if she were in prison.
I have been told that the
requirement is the only way
that Jones Auditorium will be
filled. This alone should be
enough to make it clear that
the majority of Meredith
students are not interested
enough in convocation for it to
be continued in the same
manner as now.
I realize that the con
vocation situation has not
been completely ignored. On
February 7, 1974, The Twig
printed a survey wnich asked
(Continued on Page 3)
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